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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. march — the month
  4. bore — to tire
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. row — a line
  7. dip — to sink
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. cold — not warm
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. march — music
  13. dip — to dunk
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. stem — to come from
  17. march — the month
  18. row — to paddle
  19. mine — for digging
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. bore — gave birth
  22. cold — an illness
  23. wax — to grow
  24. bore — to drill

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com